Breaking

Rapid City police are searching for a man facing allegations
that he collected close to $30,000 for a baseball clinic and youth
traveling team that never materialized.

A warrant issued last week for Jason A. Anderson, 35, charges
him with a single count of grand theft by deception, a Class 4
felony. Anderson allegedly obtained more than $1,000 from Ken
Packwood of Rapid City between June 24 and July 2 and failed to
“correct a false impression,” according to the warrant.

Packwood and his wife, Vicki, alleged in a claim filed July 14
that Anderson collected $6,300 from them to place their 9-year-old
son on Team South Dakota. The team, which was advertised for
players ages 10-18, was scheduled to compete in multiple age groups
in several tournaments over the summer in Texas, Tennessee, Florida
and Washington. It never formed, and Packwood and several other
families claim they have been deceived.

Anderson said in an earlier report he would return the money to
the Packwoods. Ken Packwood had said a meeting was arranged July 16
to have the money returned. Anderson did not show, and no contact
has been made since, Vicki said.

Police Capt. Deb Cady said Monday that the department’s
investigation is ongoing, and so far, there are five potential
victims in the case.

“There are a lot of victims, and there is a lot of loss, so
we’ll keep on it,” Cady said.

Anderson has a criminal history in the Florida panhandle. An
arrest warrant from August 2008 in Holmes County lists charges of
forgery and counterfeiting. Anderson received a citation in Bay
County for passing worthless checks, and Jennifer Wells, court
administrator of the 14th Judicial Circuit in Florida, said the
state never filed official information because he successfully
completed a pre-trial program.

There is also an open case in Bay County with a charge of
domestic violence battery. Anderson failed to appear in court on
three separate occasions in May and June 2008 and failed to
complete anger management in March 2009, according to the online
docket. A new judge was assigned to the case late last month, Wells
confirmed.

Rapid City police detective Warren Poches said Monday that there
is also an active warrant under Anderson’s name and date of birth
for his arrest in Monroe County, Michigan.

Cady said it appears Anderson arrived in the Rapid City area in
March. The same month, Jason Herz, owner of The Batter’s Box
baseball clinic, said he had first contact with Anderson about a
“Training with the Pros” baseball clinic.

The two-day event, advertised in fliers for players ages 5-18,
said it would bring 20 major- and minor-league players and
instructors to Rapid City. Herz said Anderson was asking for
$18,500 toward T-shirts, fliers, player appearances and travel
arrangements.

Herz filed a civil lawsuit July 13, accusing Anderson of
collecting the $18,500 and failing to return it when the clinic,
which was postponed several times, never occurred.

The Herz lawsuit lists a motel room at the Best Western Town
& Country Inn on Mount Rushmore Road as Anderson’s address.
Cady, however, said the department has checked several possible
locations but has not found Anderson. Cady said the department was
not aware of any civil proceedings until after they were filed, and
she said no one had yet come forward with a criminal complaint
against Anderson when Herz filed his lawsuit.

Also filing a small claims case earlier this month was Michelle
Garnett, who said she gave Anderson $3,000 in multiple payments
toward her now-10-year-old son’s placement on Team South Dakota.
The cost was to include uniforms, travel arrangements and
tournament fees.

Garnett said she remembers Anderson asking for sizes for
uniforms and other clothing items for her son, and she said he
would go through sprinting drills and workouts to enhance her son’s
pitching mechanics.

“You get caught in the middle, and you just want to do the best
for your kid,” she said.

Garnett said her frustration and sadness came to a head when she
took her entire family to Mitchell for a tournament over the Fourth
of July holiday. Expecting a bustling scene, all Garnett saw was a
barren ball field.

She soon heard about the Packwoods’ plight. The family had been
conversing with Anderson about a tournament in Cocoa, Fla., going
on simultaneously with the purported tournament in Mitchell.
Garnett filed her claim July 9, and said the pit in her stomach
only grew when she heard about other families’ troubles.

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“When I heard about all of that, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, what a
fool I’ve been,’” she said.

The alleged deception isn’t limited to parents. Michael Baldwin,
an 18-year-old pitcher on Sturgis’ American Legion team, also had
contact with Anderson this spring. Baldwin said he initially met
Anderson through Herz and later had a throwing tryout with Anderson
for an older age division squad of Team South Dakota.

Baldwin received positive reviews and was OK’d for the team.
Although he did see Anderson just about every day, Baldwin said, it
was usually just a one-on-one workout, or a couple other players
would be around. But there were never enough players there to
assemble a team.

Baldwin said his family declined to give a specific amount, but
he said his family paid in full what Anderson requested for team
expenses. Baldwin later rejoined Sturgis’ Legion squad for the end
of the Legion season.

Garnett hopes her son will return to Little League baseball next
year, but she isn’t sure he will want to. Looking back, she said,
she had concerns about the legitimacy of the team, but Anderson
“did it just good enough to make things seem like they fell into
place.”

In the end, she said, she has learned to trust her gut feeling
if she were to sense something amiss again.

“His excuse was always that he had lots of people working on it.
That’s how it all would come together,” Garnett said. “And you
believe it. You fall for it. You just do.”